GOV.UK: new government site built with open source software, £70 million cheaper

#1

Post by bfirsh » Wed, Oct 17, 2012, 10:46 AM UTC

GOV.UK: new government site built with open source software, £70 million cheaper
digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Re: GOV.UK: new government site built with open source software, £70 million cheaper

#2

Post by Nursie » Wed, Oct 17, 2012, 12:29 PM UTC

Awesome.

Except for loading in google analytics. I'd really rather that my interactions with my government were not reported to a US based megacorp.

Re: GOV.UK: new government site built with open source software, £70 million cheaper

#3

Post by cangencer » Wed, Oct 17, 2012, 12:41 PM UTC

For the curious, here is the tech stack: http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/govuk-launch-colophon/

Re: GOV.UK: new government site built with open source software, £70 million cheaper

#4

Post by arocks » Wed, Oct 17, 2012, 12:48 PM UTC

cangencer wrote: post #3

For the curious, here is the tech stack: http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/govuk-launch-colophon/

> The majority of our applications are written in ruby, based on either Ruby on Rails or Sinatra.

> A few components are written in Scala and built on top of Play 2.0

> We’re running Mapit from MySociety which is built on top of Django

Thank god it is not another Drupal based government site!

Re: GOV.UK: new government site built with open source software, £70 million cheaper

#5

Post by tomekEl » Wed, Oct 17, 2012, 1:11 PM UTC

arocks wrote: post #4

cangencer wrote: post #3

For the curious, here is the tech stack: http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/govuk-launch-colophon/

> The majority of our applications are written in ruby, based on either Ruby on Rails or Sinatra. > A few components are written in Scala and built on top of Play 2.0 > We’re running Mapit from MySociety which is built on top of Django Thank god it is not another Drupal based government site!

wordpress this time

Re: GOV.UK: new government site built with open source software, £70 million cheaper

#6

Post by andyn » Wed, Oct 17, 2012, 1:13 PM UTC

arocks wrote: post #4

cangencer wrote: post #3

For the curious, here is the tech stack: http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/govuk-launch-colophon/

> The majority of our applications are written in ruby, based on either Ruby on Rails or Sinatra. > A few components are written in Scala and built on top of Play 2.0 > We’re running Mapit from MySociety which is built on top of Django Thank god it is not another Drupal based government site!

To be fair, Drupal et al. are great for throwing at non-technical users and letting them create their own content.

Re: GOV.UK: new government site built with open source software, £70 million cheaper

#7

Post by meaty » Wed, Oct 17, 2012, 1:17 PM UTC

cangencer wrote: post #3

For the curious, here is the tech stack: http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/govuk-launch-colophon/

So every fad platform you could possibly imagine. I reckon that the savings are up front but will cost a fortune in the long run and there are virtually no staff in the UK who can support it.

Re: GOV.UK: new government site built with open source software, £70 million cheaper

#8

Post by chaz » Wed, Oct 17, 2012, 1:21 PM UTC

Great to see.

But the headline is misleading. There's some cost savings from software licensing, but it appears that the real savings is the transition from in-person services to web services. The article below cites how the "Digital by Default" initiative (which kicked off gov.uk), is partially responsible for the DVLA cutting 1,213 jobs. These are regional offices where people stand in line to get licenses and renew registrations.

http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/2189527/dvla-cut-213-job...

Re: GOV.UK: new government site built with open source software, £70 million cheaper

#9

Post by nicholassmith » Wed, Oct 17, 2012, 1:21 PM UTC

meaty wrote: post #7

cangencer wrote: post #3

For the curious, here is the tech stack: http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/govuk-launch-colophon/

So every fad platform you could possibly imagine. I reckon that the savings are up front but will cost a fortune in the long run and there are virtually no staff in the UK who can support it.

Really? Aside from Scala and RabbitMQ I know at least a dozen developers with skill sets in the rest of the technologies, and that's in my very small neck of the woods in the darkest North East England.

Re: GOV.UK: new government site built with open source software, £70 million cheaper

#10

Post by pbhjpbhj » Wed, Oct 17, 2012, 1:22 PM UTC

Nursie wrote: post #2

Awesome. Except for loading in google analytics. I'd really rather that my interactions with my government were not reported to a US based megacorp.

This is pretty important point IMO.

Why couldn't they use a local analytics system? Perhaps partner with one of the OS analytics like Piwik?

Edit: Um, I just looked, they don't appear to be using GA but a local system already?